Hi. I have to confess something, and sharing my truth with a group of Disney fans seems like the best thing to do in this case, so stick with me. I just got back from a short (and rainy — boo!!) trip to Disneyland Paris. Disneyland Paris is a charming park with enough classic Disney similarities to make it feel familiar and enough differences to make it special. I loved it! You give me a dragon (yes, there’s a dragon under the castle), and I give you a 5/5. It’s simple!
©Disneyland Paris
Now, like I said, this was a short trip. I wanted to get through as many rides as possible in a limited amount of time, so I opted to purchase Disney Premier Access. This is Disneyland Paris’s skip-the-line service, and it works a little differently than the skip-the-line service in Disney World. One of the biggest differences? The PRICE. Holy cow. I need to talk about it.
There are two different ways to skip the line in Disneyland Paris. You can buy one pass that lets you skip the lines for some of the resort’s most popular attractions (Disney Premier Access Ultimate), or you can pay-per-ride, recieving a skip-the-line pass for one attraction, one time (Disney Premier Access One).
©Disney
As I was planning my trip, I was enticed by the Ultimate Pass. I liked the fact that, unlike Disney World, there is NO allocated time slot to skip the line. I liked being able to skip multiple lines without having to make multiple purchases. I liked taking care of it in advance. What I didn’t like? The price. Now, the price varies depending on the date, but during my visit, I paid €130, which translates to $131.68. For ONE person. On ONE day.
Halloween Festival Disneyland Paris ©Disney
For comparison, Disney World’s skip-the-line service is priced a little differently. First of all, in Florida, they call it a Lightning Lane Multi Pass or a Lightning Lane Single Pass, and the names are pretty self-explanatory. The Single Pass is Disney’s pay-per-ride service, while the Multi Pass works for several rides in the park.
Lightning Lane
Disney World’s pricing also changes depending on the date, but in general, the price ranges from about $20 per person, per day to $35 per person, per day. After hearing that I paid $131 for a similiar perk, this doesn’t seem so bad, eh? Suddenly I regretted all my old complaints about the price of Disney World’s Lightning Lane Multi Pass.
©Disney
Back in Disneyland Paris, I made the most of that pass, scanning into as many rides as possible. Often, though, the standby wait time wasn’t long to begin with, so my “express pass” didn’t feel so…express. If I were to go again or do it all over, I would probably opt for the pay-per-ride service instead, a.k.a. Disney Premier Access One. The wait times were often lower than what I expected (maybe I’m just used to Florida’s high wait times), so I didn’t really need that Ultimate pass. Oh well! You live and you learn. Or, you read this and learn from my mistakes.
©Disney
Oh, and while we’re on the subject of express passes, I should point out that Universal Orlando’s skip-the-line service isn’t a bargain, either. While their version of an express pass is free with select Universal Resort stays, it costs between $89.99–$289.99 for the one-time-per-ride pass and $119.99–$319.99 for the unlimited rides pass. OUCH!
©Universal
So, what’s the lesson here? If you want that V.I.P. line-skipping privilege, prepare to pay a premium. Sure, it’s no fun paying $30 per person to skip the lines in Magic Kingdom, but just be glad you’re not paying $90 per person like you could be at Universal Orlando. It’s all about perspective! (And yes, I remember the days when it was FREE to skip all these lines, but those days are long gone, people.)
FastPass+ Kiosk that used to be in the park
The good news is that the trusty old standby line is still free no matter where you go! If you’re strategic about when you hit the parks and the order in which you prioritize your rides, you might not even need an express pass anyway. Oh, and we have a TON of handy tricks on how to make the most of your time in Disney World, so keep reading for more tips!
In the meantime, we’re always on the lookout for the latest Disney news, so stay tuned for more.
5 Things Lightning Lane Experts Would Never, Ever Do in Disney World
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I still view all pay per ride by Disney as Money Grubbing
Bring Back FastPass Plus
Since the lightning lane single and multi passes cover different rides, you really need to add the cost of the multi plus the cost of all the singles for a particular park together to compare it to the Paris Ultimate pass. And even then it isn’t necessarily a perfect comparison because you have the windows for the lightning lane and the limit of only booking three at a time.
We have a trip planned in December and came to a similar conclusion based on watching wait times per the app. Granted, times may be different on my dates. Thank you for the article as it was helpful.
Thanks for the info….use to go to Disneyland since it opened…. haven’t gone in years…at 75 would probably just do lots of walking instead of riding.
Just because you found something worse doesn’t make it good.